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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH November 18, 2009 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 7 November 18, 2009 Christopher Cooke asked if it was possible to tell how effective the seasonal vaccine is at this point. Rosemary Summers and Wayne Sherman stated that it is impossible to determine because the seasonal flu is not circulating yet. Christopher Cooke commented that people may be waiting to see how effective the vaccine is before committing. Rosemary Summers stated that it takes 2 weeks after the shot to build up immunity and that in the past the flu vaccines have had an effective rate of 70%. Jessica Lee asked if the department was planning to include nursing homes as had been done in the past. Wayne stated that in the past we have done that, however, many broken appointments occurred and staff was not fully utilized. Dr. Chelminsky stated that his practice had given out 20% more flu shots than in previous years and were unable to order more from the supplier. This is due to manufacturers switching to H1N1 production. Wayne Sherman reviewed some of the problems that have arisen from the federal supplies provided for the H1N1 program. No gloves were provided and he cited numerous instances of syringes leaking. In addition, it has been difficult to determine how much vaccine we would receive and when. Staff burnout has been a serious issue as staff tries to attend to their regular duties in addition to the H1N1 and seasonal flu clinics. Dr. Summers concurred and stated that we do not have enough core staff to handle the daily work and that if we had another outbreak, for example a food-borne illness, the department simply would not have the staff to handle it. Steve Yuhasz asked how many positions the department lost due to budget cuts. Rosemary Summers stated that due to loss of staff due to retirement and restructuring the department was down 7 positions. Dr. Chelminsky asked how many vaccines could be given in an hour on an appointment basis. Wayne stated that 10 per hour is the average. At the mass event Rosemary Summers stated that we averaged 4 minutes per shot, however that was a different system. F. Informational Items a.) Awards to Staff: 1) Candice Watkins-Robinson received a first place “Excellence in Communication Award” from the North Carolina Association of Government Information Officers; 2) Health Department webmasters Tom Konsler, Anne Miles Cassell, and Candice Watkins-Robinson each received a “You Can Count On Me Award” for their work as Webmasters in updating and restructuring of the Orange County web site. b.) Staff Realignment Update: The County Manager approved the plan for staff realignment for the Family Home Visiting Section and the “unfreezing” and placement of staff from that section into Central Administrative Services Division. No staff lost their jobs as a result of this realignment but there were significant